Mozaic Ministries
The Young Ones
What do you picture when you think of Jesus' 12 disciples? Middle-aged men with slightly grey hair and beards? You probably don't imagine a bunch of long-limbed, socially awkward, pimply teenagers. Yet, when you delve into the Jewish culture of the time, it is extremely plausible that when Jesus called His disciples, many of them were in their teenage years.
The Torah is the Jewish book of law. It contains the writings that we know as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Judaism also has The Mishnah, which is the oral interpretations of the Torah. In it we find the blueprint of life for a Jewish boy living at the same time as Jesus.
- At 5 years old β begin to learn the Torah.
- At 10 years old β start applying the Mishnah to their learning.
- At 13 years old β take responsibility for fulfilling the commandments.
- At 15 years old β build the Talmud into their understanding.
- At 18 years old β get married.
- At 20 years old β pursue a vocation.
- At 30 years old β have sufficient maturity to teach others.
The children who participated in this training from the age of 5, would memorize whole books of The Torah and other Scriptures. They would be tested on whether they could recite them β word-for-word.
Formal education for Jewish boys stopped by the age of 15. You then had 2 career pathways available. Firstly, if you had shown yourself to be an extremely bright pupil, you could become accepted by a rabbi as his disciple. This could also happen if your parents were rich enough to buy you a discipleship. Secondly, if you hadn't been an A* grade pupil and therefore no reputable rabbi wanted you as his disciple, then you would enter the general workforce as an apprentice in the family trade.
Where does this leave Jesus and his disciples? Well, let's look at the clues.
- James and John were working with their dad Zebedee. They were learning the family trade of fishing. This would infer that they were between 15 and 18 years old.
- Andrew and Peter are also fishermen but Peter is his own boss. This would indicate that he is at least 20 years old β he is pursuing a vocation β and he is also the only disciple to have a wife mentioned, so he must be older than 18. Andrew is obviously a little bit younger, again between 15 and 18 years old.
- As possibly the oldest disciple, it would explain how and why Peter took on the role of spokesperson for the group. It may also explain his attitude of trying to assert his status and authority over the others. Frequently, he engaged his mouth before his brain had time to censor his words.
In general, when you look at the disciples through a teenage lens, a lot of their behaviour makes much more sense. They are brash and mouthy; argumentative and whiny; insecure and occasionally showed off. They needed multiple explanations of the same thing and even then, they still did not understand.
- Jesus nicknames James and John as 'The Sons of Thunder'. What is thunder? Noisy air!
- Judas suddenly found himself trusted with the finances for the whole group. Maybe it's not that surprising that the sticky lure of filthy lucre got the better of him.
- Simon was a Zealot β today we would describe him as an activist and radical campaigner. An idealist. He wanted a change in the political life of Jerusalem.
- Matthew was a tax collector β not a career choice that would win you friends in those days. However, by including Matthew among his disciples, Jesus showed that no-one β not even those marginalised by society β would be excluded by God.
- Jesus often referred to the disciples as children, which may indicate that not only were they younger than him but that they were indeed just out of childhood and on the precipice of adulthood.
None of the disciples were 'star students'. That's why they were so shocked and eager to follow Jesus when he gave them the opportunity to be his disciples.
Interestingly, it would seem that Jesus had not been taken on by any particular rabbi as a disciple. He too had been apprenticed in the family trade of building, which included stonemasonry, as well as carpentry. Maybe his audience with the religious leaders at the age of 12, had marked him as being precocious and a 'know-it-all'. The religious authorities often referred to Jesus, in rather scathing and derogatory tones, as 'Joseph the carpenter's son'.
How does all this apply to me and you?
When a rabbi accepted a disciple, he was saying, "I believe in you; I see your potential."
When Jesus chose His disciples, most of them, as we have seen, may have been under 20 years of age. They weren't the brightest and the best academically. They were not the obvious choices to start a world-wide revolution with. They came from various backgrounds and families. Society had rejected them. Yet, here we are, 2000 plus years later, still discussing and learning from their lives.
Whatever your age, you might feel outshone and overshadowed by those around you. You may feel a pressure to achieve β to having something of substance β to show for your existence on earth. You may not be sure of where you fit in to society or your church community.
Jesus holds out his hand, looks you in the eye and says: "I believe in you; I see your potential".
Image Copyright: BBC Worldwide